president obama has said, he said yesterday that if those leaders and those congressional negotiators cannot figure out how to compromise, then is he going to tell the senate just to vote anyways because he thinks with an up or down vote, senators with a support the plan that is already out there. the main hold up with the deal so far has been a fight over who should be classified as rich. democrats want to start letting tax cuts expire for anyone making more than $250,000. many republicans though want that number to go up to at least $400,000 a year. they think that's a better threshold. but, still, the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell thinks things are heading in the right direction. top administration officials say senator mcconnell has pledged to work closely with harry reid, the majority leader in the senate. we will see how that works out very soon since their deadline is monday at midnight. back to you. >> dave: are you optimistic, peter? >> cautiously. it seems for the first time in weeks the body language and the tone of the leaders leaving the meeting. the members we h